*Our device is identical to the T-Mobile Galaxy S2X (T989) but there are a few minor differences you need to know when rooting and loading roms/kernels/modems.

This will work on the T-Mobile phone as well. Just follow the different step to get into download mode.

This will NOT change the flash counter. You are not loading a rooted rom.

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Here is a comprehensive and user-friendly guide to rooting your Telus S2X. Included is also some tips to roms, kernels and things to improve battery life.*Please ensure you follow the steps as laid out here. Failure to do so may mean you may break your device. If this happens, you can always flash back the original rom and fix your mistake. I take no responsibility if you screw up your phone but would be happy to help.

Adopted from Melvin's XDA thread (big thanks goes to Melvin!)

*Please ensure you have a memory card installed to be able to do a backup. You can skip the backup but this is your choice. If anything goes bad you will need to use odin to flash back the stock rom.

4. Now plug in your phone and a menu will come up asking if you want to mount as a USB drive. Select it and copy the SuperUser zip to usbStorage folder on the internal drive (really anywhere is fine but I will keep it simple here and select a folder)

5. Unmount your phone and unplug it from the computer.

6. Now, unzip Odin file and open the folder. Inside it will be the Odin app. Launch Odin but do NOT connect the phone yet

7. To flash with Odin (which is a Samsung Testing application) you will need to boot your phone into DOWNLOAD mode. To do this, do the following:

POWER OFF. Then HOLD VOLUME DOWN and keep pressing it and then press power. It will boot you into the following screen. Press UP to confirm you want to flash*This is different for us Telus users. T-Mobile have to press both buttons and then connect

8. Now, you can connect your phone to your computer. Wait for odin com port to turn YELLOW before proceeding

9. On ODIN, Select the PDA button and browse to the recovery.tar. Make sure Re-Partition is NOT checked (it shouldn't be). Now press start and let it flash the custom recovery. It should say PASS once finished. Close Odin.

10. Next, disconnect your phone. Power it off. We will now need to get into the new recovery module you flashed. To do this press both VOLUME UP AND DOWN and hold them. Then press power and wait till it boots-don't keep holding power. Once you see the recovery screen let go of the volume buttons immediately. Sometimes, I am not fast enough and the phone reboots. If this happens HOLD the VOLUME buttons again and repeat the process.

You should see something like this:

11. Using your volume buttons, navigate down to BACKUP and RESTORE. Choose:

(NANDROID) BACKUP

*To make a selection press the POWER button (it acts as a return key). This will create a complete backup of your stock phone in case something goes wrong. If it does, you can always boot back into recovery and choose RESTORE from the BACKUP and RESTORE menu. Nice huh! Don't skip this step or you will be sorry.

12. After the restore choose "GO BACK" to return to the main menu. Then select ADVANCED and choose FIX PERMISSIONS. Once this is complete navigate back to main menu

13. Once back at the main menu, choose INSTALL ZIP FROM SDCARD. Select CHOOSE ZIP FROM INTERNAL SDCARD. Navigate down to the usbStorage folder and select the su-3.0.5-efgh-signed.zip or su-3.0.7-efgh-signed.zip file. Go to main menu and reboot system.

You are now rooted!

This means you have full access to system files and is like jailbreaking on an iPhone. You should have a superuser app installed. If not, you are not rooted.

Hope this was helpful to people. Feel free to donate if you wish (see my sig)

1. To install the stock rom file you will need to first extract it. Use the password above
2. Launch Odin. Press PDA and Select the stock recovery file (tar.md5 file) folder you extracted. Make sure re-partition is NOT selected (see the pic above).
3. Restart your phone in download mode as before (see above how to do this) and wait for the yellow com
4. Press Start and flash back the phone to original state

Steps:
1. Copy the KJ3 zip to your phone
2. Reboot into recovery
3. I would wipe cache in main menu and Dalvik (in the advanced) menu just to be safe. Probably not necessary but I would do it.
3. Choose install zip (choose internal or external depending on where you saved the zip to)
4. Flash as usual.
5. Go back to main recovery menu and select advanced menu. Select Fix permissions. I usually do this to avoid any weird issues. Again probably not necessary.
6. Reboot.

I highly recommend you buy Titanium Pro to be able freeze apps that you do not need. Freezing means the app is not able to run in the backround or launch. You can easily reverse this process. Recommended over uninstalling.

How to freeze apps:

1. Make sure you have Pro. Open the app and Choose BACKUP/RESTORE
2. Scroll down to any app and click it. Choose Freeze. Done!
*to unfreeze, do the same thing and this time choose unfreeze

Apps to freeze to improve battery life (these apps keep running in the background and drain battery:

-Wifi-Sharing *tethering will still work fine-Wifi-Sharing Manager-Social Hub
(do not freeze Wifi app)

App to improve battery life:

I highly recommend 2X Battery, which is free from market. This made a noticeable difference to battery life for me.
In the app you can turn off the notification icon if wanted

Currently, I am getting about 16 hours of battery where I used to get 8 or so.

There are a few roms to choose from and I'm not here to tell you which is best. You can decide for yourself. I will however recommend a few.

* See below how to flash

ROM: The operating system of your deviceKERNEL: The central component of most operating systems. Its responsibilities include managing the system&#8217;s resources (the communication between hardware and software components. Kernels can make a big difference to battery life, speed, and smoothness of the interface

*to backup accounts: Use Titanium to backup ACCOUNTS and ACCOUNTS & Sync Settings, Bluetooth Pairings, Contacts Storage (unless you are using gmail for saving your contacts. If so then don't back this up)

IN recovery, VOLUME keys are navigation and POWER button is select.

Step 1: Download the rom zip file using your computer and copy to somewhere on your phone. Say a folder named ROM on your SDcard

Step 2: Reboot into recovery (see above how to do this)

Step 3: In recovery go to WIPE/DATA FACTORY RESET

Step 4: Go back to the main menu and select WIPE CACHE PARTITION

Step 5: Go back to the main menu and select INSTALL ZIP from SDCARD
INTERNAL SD means phone memory in case you copied the zip to a
phone folder. Choose your rom.zip

Step 6: Let it flash, and then go back to main menu and choose ADVANCED
Then choose WIPE DALVIK CACHE and then FIX PERMISSIONS

Step 7: Go back to the main menu and select REBOOT SYSTEM

Please allow the phone to fully boot (it may take some time). Don't touch the phone for a few minutes after boot. Let it settle and then reboot. THEN set up your phone.

*If your flash went bad because of a mistake or corrupted file you can always boot back into recovery and restore your backup.

I am not a big fan of the stock camera for a number of reasons. I have been using the miui camera app and have been to achieve some excellent shots that the stock camera is not able to produce.

We don't have fully miui yet but here is an apk from the HTC Amaze (miui dump) that works pretty well on our phones-video recording does not. You will still keep your stock camera app. It will not overwrite it. The odd time you may not be able to open the miui camera. Make sure the stock one is closed in task manager.

Thanks so much for the guide but i have a question regarding the rooting process ...

Step 12:

Once the backup is complete, navigate down to "GO BACK..". Once back at the main menu, choose INSTALL ZIP FROM SDCARD. Select CHOOSE ZIP FROM INTERNAL SDCARD. Navigate down to the usbStorage folder and select the su-3.0.5-efgh-signed.zip file. Go to main menu and reboot system.

Do i have to move the file su-3.0.5-efgh-signed.zip before i start the root into my sdcard or i dont have to do anything just to follow these steps and once i arrive at step 12 the file will show up on my phone ?

And my other question is if the phone will be unlocked once it is rooted or is there a different process to unlock my phone ?

what is nandroid backup and how and when it can be needed and how it can be used?

Click to expand...

Nandroid backup is an added feature in the clockwork recovery you load on the phone when rooting.

What it does is create an image (complete backup) of your current system. This means everything is saved!

You should create a nandroid backup before trying a new rom. Just in case something goes wrong. I like to also have a nandroid backup just in case I don't like the new rom I loaded and I want to quickly go back to what I had.

To restore, you simply WIPE CACHE and DALVIK CACHE in advanced options and then choose RESTORE. Your phone, settings and files will be there as you left it.

This is also handy if the phone will not boot for whatever reason. You can press the volume keys and boot into recovery and restore back without having a heart attack

once i activate the USB debugging and i plug in my phone nothing is showing up -- its not asking me if i want to mount it as a usb drive? drivers are installed -- i also do have Kies but the usbStorage i cant find it ?

once i activate the USB debugging and i plug in my phone nothing is showing up -- its not asking me if i want to mount it as a usb drive? drivers are installed -- i also do have Kies but the usbStorage i cant find it ?

Click to expand...

When you plug in the phone you have to mount it on the phone by pulling down the notification and selecting usb storage. I can post a screen shot once I get home.

ok i got it but where should i paste it in ? any folder as you said on the guide ? what if i cant find it after i start the rooting ?

Click to expand...

Not a problem. Ya any folder is fine. It's pretty easy to find. If you can't find the superuser zip that is not a worry. You can always boot back into the phone without installing. You would just navigate back to the main menu in recovery and reboot Then you can just boot back into recovery and flash the zip once you find where it is.

well it did not give me the option to back up to internal sd ?
It is giving me just

- Backup
- Restore
- Advanced Restore
- **** Go Back ****

These are the only options under Nandroid

Do you have the same phone as mine ? SG S2X

Click to expand...

That sucks. That version of recovery must not have that option like the one I have on mine right now as I updated Clockwork recovery. You can skip the backup or wait for an SD card. You can always restore using odin and the stock rom I listed if anything goes wrong. No biggie

Excellent. Sorry about the backup mixup. I wrote my last guide as I rooted myself. This one was an adoption and I guess you found a mistake in my instructions.

The modem controls your phone's voice, data and GPS connection. Are you on T-mobile or Telus? For this phone using the T-mobile modem is not advised for the Telus variant.

If you are on T-mobile I can send you the link for the new modem. Most users have noticed improved GPS locks (more satellites found) and faster data speeds on the newer t-mobile modem. A few noticed a bit worse battery life but that is subjective.

Well i don't consider it as a mistake but a technical error ..you really did a great job in writing the guide don't worry..a dummy like me was able to root his android for the first time so that means you're a PRO

I am with Telus and not with T-Mobile. Is there no new modem for the Telus variant ?

Well i don't consider it as a mistake but a technical error ..you really did a great job in writing the guide don't worry..a dummy like me was able to root his android for the first time so that means you're a PRO

I am with Telus and not with T-Mobile. Is there no new modem for the Telus variant ?

Click to expand...

Thanks. No, not yet. We are still on KJ3. I'll post an update when one comes available. Glad it worked for you